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Director-General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra said on Saturday there is no question of the country placing a year’s embargo on the delivery of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, especially since the aircraft was essential to the profitability of Air India. Mishra was responding to reports of India’s retaliation to the threat of a downgrade by the Federal Aviation Administration of the country’s air safety rankings.

“That’s absurd. There is no question of that. It is a contract between Air India and Boeing; how can the government intervene? In any case, the FAA is an independent authority of the US government and this is a technical evaluation, it has nothing to do with commercial or diplomatic relations,” he said. Mishra added, “Practically speaking, the sales of Air India hang on the Dreamliner. All their plans for revival are on the Dreamliner. There is no question of cancellations.”

Though the FAA raised 33 points after its safety audit, the DGCA said FAA’s main requirement is expected to be met by December 11 with the hiring of 20 new flight operations inspectors on market salaries, taking the total to 65.